Chozo Unknown
by Sunhat Leafeon
Summary: The threat of the metroid and the X are destroyed. With nothing else left to do, the fugitive Samus Aran roams the galaxy searching for anything that might help her figure out what happened to the Chozo. Her onboard AI advises she investigate the TS star system, a system absent from most galactic maps. Evidence of Chozo presence is rumored to be on all of its planets.


**Samus's Point of View**

Adrenaline filled my veins as the firey red planet came into view. The euphoria of the first landing on a new planet had never truly faded away, even after decades of experiencing the very same thing.

I closed my eyes, letting out an apprehensive sigh. Adam, my ship's onboard AI, took notice.

"What's troubling you, lady?" came the monotone voice. While the vague personality of my old commanding officer was there, the cold tones of the artificial voice were distinctly not his. It made me uneasy to hear Adam speak this way, from beyond the grave.

"It's nothing," I lied. I don't think he believed me, but he didn't press the issue further. "How long until we land?"

"Two hours."

I sighed once again.

"Great," I replied in sarcasm. I took a deep breath, attempting to snuff out any impatience. I'd need to focus, stay calm and think clearly to accomplish my goal.

Without another word, I walked into my ship's very small storage closet and closed the hatch behind me. I slipped my plain white T-shirt over my head, tossing it over into the corner. I unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans, sliding them to the floor and leaving myself in just my underwear.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I slowly calmed my breaths, and pulled on a part of my mind that would be unfamiliar to most humans.

I felt a wave of energy, as my power suit began to form around me. What was left it, at least. The bulky suit formed around me, though without the armor plating I was used to. Instead there was a thin, orange membrane that stretched the length of my suit.

The green in my vision slowly faded, projecting a clear image of the outside world to my eyes as if the bright green visor wasn't even there. I looked down, drawing my left hand along my arm cannon's barrel. I clicked my missile hatch open to make sure it still worked.

"Samus, scans show that there is a large object following us. Do you wish me to investigate further?" once again came the voice of Adam.

"No," I replied, irritated. "It's probably just an asteroid.

"I hope you're correct."

I emerged from the closet. I slowly walked over to the storage room, listening to the unfamiliar sounds of my footsteps

The lighter, unarmored nature of my fusion suit resulted in different footsteps. The tapping of my feet were not the heavy clomp I've been used to from the heavy boots of my power suit.

I opened the hatch, walking in with a smile on my face.

The animals I had rescued from the BSL were sleeping peacefully. All except one. The large dachora gingerly walked over to me, nuzzling against me with it's long neck. I gently pet it's head with my free hand, ruffling its feathers slightly.

"Hey there, little one," I cooed. The large green bird squawked at me, staring into my visor with it's large purple eyes. The words it spoke were vaguely familiar; a greeting of sorts. The green avian shared a similar language to that of the Chozo, a language I knew well.

I lightly squawked back. It was a bit awkward sounding, but the dachora understood what I meant.

I chirped and squawked a bit at it, trying to convey a rough idea of what I needed to say. It was something along the lines of "We land on planet soon, be ready." It nodded, jogging back over to its chick to wake it up. The etecoons still laid sleeping.

I smiled to myself, walking out of the room and shutting the door. I kicked back in the seat of my cockpit, waiting for our arrival on the planet's surface.

* * *

Just as Adam had said, exactly two hours later we penetrated the atmosphere. The sudden shift of pressure jostled my starship, startling me awake.

"We're here, lady. Planet TS-499," came the voice of Adam. I quickly jumped into action, manually attempting to steer the ship straight. The controls didn't respond, however, which began to make me concerned.

"Adam? The controls aren't working!"

A moment of silence passed.

"There's been critical system failures do to the intense heat from entering the atmosphere." came Adam's voice one again. "Debris in the atmosphere have damaged our heat shields, and the high temperatures have affected integral system functions. I will do what I can to land the ship safely, but we are going to crash. All I can do is soften the blow."

I chuckled to myself despite the danger. I ran back into the storage compartment, and shouted to the animals.

"Brace yourselves, everyone! This landing isn't gonna be pretty!"

The animals bolted upright, but toppled over once the ship was jostled once again. I lost my balance slightly, but only slid a few feet. A few minutes passed before there was a loud crashing noise, and the whole ship shook. I flew off my feet and into a wall. The animals weren't faring much better.

The next crash was less intense, but still too powerful to stand through. The ship bounced and slammed against the planet's surface, with increasing pace and lessening intensity. Soon the landing gears shifted in an attempt to catch the ship. They scraped against the ground with a horrible noise, sliding at hundreds of miles per hour across the surface.

I grabbed onto a bar in the ceiling attempting to keep balance, as the ship slowly began to decelerate. After an agonizing minute of grinding along the surface, the ship came to a stop, toppling over onto its side. I was crushed against the wall by large iron crates filled to the brim with supplies, the ship's artificial gravity system finally failing.

After a few minutes I pushed the crates off from me, and took a peak around the room. The animals were fine, if a bit shaken up, and the supplies didn't seem too damaged. The hatch had failed, and the lights were flickering. I sighed to myself, and walked along what was once the wall of my ship.

I hopped down through the hatch, grabbing onto the edge and hanging over my cockpit. Or, what was left of it at least. The glass of the windshield had shattered, and the entire control panel was in shambles. Most of the front of the ship had been crushed together, not unlike the hood of a car after an accident.

I looked at the floor. The exit hatch was gone, and most of the floor was red, smoking, and ground away into dust.

"Haha, good thing I waited in the storage room, eh Adam?"

...

"Adam...?"

After a long moment of no response, I grew concerned. Had the damage to the ship taken out Adam? Then I had a thought.

I let go of the wall, falling down onto the control panel. The entry port for my arm cannon was (mostly) unharmed, so I jammed the weapon inside. With a few mental commands, I was searching through the ship's stored data. The data for the Adam AI was unharmed, just as I had hoped. I downloaded it, and allowed Adam access to my suit's systems.

Soon, the Adam AI spoke once more, but with a more familiar tone and directly into my head.

"Samus, what happened?"

"The ship crashed, just like you said." Though he couldn't see it, I still gave a smirk.

"...I see."

"Adam, I've allowed you access to my suit's systems. You should be able to communicate with me at any time, and use any functions of my suit."

"Ah, yes. I can even see the world from your visor."

I nodded.

"So, we're finally here. What else to do but take a look around?"

Adam didn't reply, so I took it as confirmation. I took a look at my surroundings.

The sky was a bright blue. The fiery look from the external point of view was simply because of the bright red rock that made up the ground I stood on.

My ship lay in ruins several meters away. The animals had gotten out just fine, and began looking around.

There were tree-like plants growing all around them, with bright blue and purple leaves. They seemed to glow in the sunlight. I ran up to one of the 'trees', taking one leap directly to the top. I had cleared about twenty-five feet of air, before I began my descent toward the blue and purple leaves.

I grabbed onto a branch, hanging onto it and taking a look around.

There was just 'forest' for miles, but very far to the North there was what seemed to be a Chozo temple. There was also a line of trees that had been taken out, with my ship smoldering at the end of the trail.

I let go of the tree, falling to the ground and landing in a kneel. I propelled from my kneel into a sprint, beginning to continuously accelerate. My legs pumped faster and faster, until I my suit became engulfed in a flashing blue aura.

I hopped toward one of the trees, preserving my momentum and rebounding off from it's trunk. I did a corkscrew mid-air as I flew several yards upward, before tucking into a roll. I positioned my body with my head aimed toward the temple in the distance. I unfolded my body, unleashing my built up momentum into a shine-spark.

I flew at blazing fast speeds for a couple hundred yards, before gravity started to regain it's hold on me and I began to arc back toward the ground. I curled into my morphball ball, rolling as I hit the ground still engulfed in the blue aura.

I drifted and hopped around the trees, at one point rolling up and along a heavily curled trunk and launching myself farther forward. I soon came rolling into the wide open scape of rock. I uncurled from my ball form, in a quick sprint toward the temple in the distance. I had covered most of the distance by now, and would be there in about a minute.

As I saw the temple fast approaching, I soon dug my foot into the ground. My foot ground against the rock, sparking and scraping up clouds of a thick red dust as I skidded to a halt. I soon came to a stop directly in front of the temple.

Two large, impending chozo statues stood at each side of the entrance. One's head was cracked, the other's arm had fallen off long ago. I gingerly walked up to the dismembered arm, dragging my hand along its length. My fingers came away covered in a thick orange dust.

"The Chozo were here at some point, at least," I noted. Adam didn't respond, of course; not that I expected him to.

I took a step back, and took a good long look at the temple. It was fairly large, made of a light pink stone. There were various symbols and designs carved into parts of the structure, some with familiar meaning to me. It looked how I imagined Chozodia would on the outside, if it weren't built into a mountain. And if it were pink, instead of the warm shades of gold and brown.

There was a strong wind rushing along the surface, creating a deafening sound. It was the only noise for miles, aside for the disruptive and alien sounds from my power suit.

As I walked inside, the loud wind died down and gave way to a stagnant silence. I slowly walked down the corridor, when a piercing voice disrupted the peaceful silence.

"Samus," came Adam's voice, "I have begun functions to automatically repair your power suit. Any parts removed in the surgery should be restored soon, but the process will only work when the suit is not in use."

I was slightly annoyed that he had ruined the serene silence, but thankful for his help anyhow.

I came upon a red hatch in the ground. There was no other clear way to go upon inspection of the room I was in, so it was an easy choice. I blasted the hatch open with a missile, leaping inside and plunging myself deeper into the darkness.

As the hatch closed behind me, everything went pitch black. I rolled upon impacting the ground, using my momentum to launch myself back onto my feet. There was very little light making its way down there. So little, in fact, that even the enhanced vision brought by my visor brought very little except a grainy dark picture.

I fired another missile at the hatch above in an attempt to let in light, but it's explosive impact was paired with a loud 'dink', signifying that the hatch was locked, much to my dismay.

With a sigh of frustration, I focused energy into my arm cannon. A bright flash burst to life on it's muzzle, the soft blue hues of my ice beam illuminating the area around.

I waved my cannon around the room to get a good look at things, but the chamber was mostly empty, much to my disappointment. There were a few quotes enscribed on the wall, but the only thing really noteworthy was another hatch on the floor.

With a shrug to myself I blasted it open, leaving myself in temporary darkness until I reignited my charge beam.

I dove inside, the hatch once again locking behind me as I fell. I landed on my knee, waving my cannon around once more.

Another mostly empty room, but with an elevator. I walked over and onto the translucent yellow platform, letting it lower me down further into the planet's crust.

My suit's automatic scanners were mapping out a rough shape and size of the ruins as I traveled. The elevator ride was a long one. By the time I got to the bottom, my map estimated the distance traveled to be around five kilometers.

If it weren't for my power suit, I would be dead by now. That thought sent shivers down my spine. These shivers soon turned to fear as a blip came to my ears. And then another. I glanced at my energy reading to see it going down at a slow, but steady pace. With the damaged state of my power suit, the Varia function wasn't working at full capacity.

"Whatever you feel you need to do here, you do it in haste," advised Adam. I simply nodded, and began my descent further into the ruins.

My suit's energy wasn't being chipped away too fast, it'd be a good twenty minutes before the shielding started to fail by my estimates, but that didn't make the danger any less real.

Realizing I still had a shot charged up, I snuffed it out on the ground.

I looked around. There was light here, from the bioluminescent vines creeping up the dark red stone bricks of the wall. I was in a large chamber, with many Chozo statues, pillars, and hieroglyphs littered around. There were no hatches in the room, but there was a large door in the center. There were twin staircases leading up to it.

I jogged up to the door, attempting to push it open. It didn't budge, of course. Scans revealed that it was locked with some unknown mechanism.

There was one large Chozo statue I noticed, standing between the two staircases. I knew what to do.

I hopped down the stairs, and leapt up into the awaiting hands of the statue. I curled myself into my morph ball, and felt the statue's large claws grip me tightly. It's eyes flashed to life, as the ground began to rumble.

The statue walked forward, and turned around as more stairs rose to connect the other two staircases in the middle. The Chozo statue slowly walked up the stairs, delivering me to my destination. The door opened for the statue, and closed behind it after it walked inside, and promptly dropped me on the ground.

The statue's eyes flickered, and dimmed, the light leaving as it sat down next to the door.

I uncurled, and took a look around the room.

This room was far cooler. My energy was still draining, but now from extreme cold as opposed to heat. The room was lit up in a dim, purple glow. There was one single Chozo statue in the center, clasping an orb.

I shivered as I stepped forward. Each step was difficult due to the low temperatures, but I pressed on. After a few agonizing moments of walking, the statue sat before me.

I instinctually shot the orb in its grasp, revealing the suit addon it held for me. It was an ice beam.

While I already had an ice beam, it wasn't as strong as the real thing. It was a poor imitation created by the X.

I reached forward and grabbed the beam, letting it flash and merge with my suit. It not only restored my ice beam to full function, but the rest of my suit too. It accelerated the auto repair functions, and with a bright flash my suit was suddenly fully repaired.

The new weight of being once more fully armored shocked me, and I fell over with a loud clang. It was nothing I couldn't handle, but unexpected nonetheless.

My legs were shaky as I stood back up, flexing my now armored limbs. I couldn't help but squeal in delight, noting that my energy levels had stabilized and were no longer depleting.

My moment of smug satisfaction was soon doused, however, as I heard a rumble.

"Samus!" Adam demanded. "What was that?"

"I don't know! Do a scan!" I replied a bit louder than necessary. Adam obeyed the command, and suddenly I felt a wave of apprehension. Not my own, but Adam's.

"It appears that the energy release from the ice beam pickup has worsened an instability in this region," he explained. "If the scans are correct, the change in pressure will only increase until magma starts shooting to the surface."

I put on my brave face, and took a deep breath.

"Okay. How long do you estimate we have?"

"Ten minutes."

A large crash and rumble was what I needed to begin my escape. The door locked behind me, but I had no time to mess around with the Chozo statue. I placed a powerbomb, and braced myself.

It almost completely decimated not only the door, but the room I was in. I dove out, when I heard Adam complain in my ear.

"Lady, what are you doing?! That big a blast could cause further damage!"

"Ah shit, I didn't think of that!"

I looked back, and Adam was right. Cracks were starting to form, and soon hot magma began to fire out like a geyser.

I pumped my legs as hard as I could, diving into the elevator. Turning off the safety mode, I initiated my ascent.

With safety mode off, the ride would be significantly faster. The elevator quickly accelerated to one-hundred-twenty kilometers per hour.

I looked down to see that it wasn't quite fast enough. The elevator shaft below was now obscured by the hot magma which was shooting up toward me. While I already had some distance on it, I wasn't sure if I'd hit the top before becoming akin to a lobster before dinner.

I leaned down and grasped onto the elevator as hard as I could.

"What are you planning?" Adam questioned. His inquiry was soon answered as the boosters on my back flared to light with bright blue flames, further accelerating us as I shut my eyes tight.

My suit's energy rapidly depleted as I poured it all into my thrusters, but I felt that I could hold out until we reach the top. I opened one eye and looked down. We were rising slightly faster than the magma now.

After around a minute of waiting, one final burst of energy was lost from my impact with the ceiling.

I looked toward the hatch about to shoot it, when I remembered that it was locked.

I took a deep breath, and looked around the chamber. There was a crack in the wall, so I morphed over and bombed it. Luckily a tunnel was revealed. I rolled through just as the magma entered the room.

The hot, viscous liquid began to fill the tunnel behind me. I began to roll faster and faster, until finally my boost ball feature kicked in.

The magma was right behind me, but I managed to keep pace with it. The ground smoked from the lava, and the friction of my rolling. We soon came to a ninety degree turn upwards in the tunnel. Noticing there was a blockage at the top, I shrieked.

"Adam! We aren't gonna make it!"

I got no response except for him triggering my powerbomb latch. I caught on, and let one out. As soon as it touched the magma, it detonated, sending a large blast propelling me upward even faster. I soon burst through the ceiling at the end of the tunnel, blasting it to pieces as I shot onto the surface. I unmorphed in midair, reigniting my thrusters as I surveyed the damage.

A blast of hot lava shot out from my escape hole, as well as a few others I could have chosen.

Soon the whole temple began to tremble, and rupture. There was a large boom as the whole temple was blown to smithereens as a titanic blast of molten rock blasted out of TS-499's crust.

The sky went dark, the TS star blocked out by both debris from the temple and the sheer size of the lava wave.

I dropped to the ground, and began sprinting away as chunks of temple and globs of lava crashed down around me. After what seemed like forever, I escaped into the forest and out of harm's way.

I looked back at the dark plume of smoke and rock in the distance, sighing to myself in irritation.

"Must everywhere I go be destroyed in some sort of explosion?"


End file.
